Data-center law in Cabo Verde

Decreto-Lei n.º 70/2020, de 17 de Setembro, regime de taxas da Avaliação de Impacte Ambiental

Applies to both

This decree's preamble recites that Decreto-Lei n.º 27/2020, de 19 de Março, which established the current Environmental Impact Assessment (AIA) regime for public or private projects likely to affect the environment and revoked the prior regime under Decreto-Lei n.º 29/2006, de 6 de Março, sorts a project into three categories by environmental-risk profile: Category A requires a complete Environmental Impact Study for higher-risk projects, Category B requires a simplified environmental study for intermediate-risk projects, and Category C requires only a presentation of environmental management measures for lower-risk projects.

Article 1 states this decree's own object as establishing the fee regime owed within the AIA procedure, and Article 2 makes the AIA Authority (Autoridade de AIA) the party entitled to collect the fees from the public or private project proponent.

Article 5 sets the project-categorisation fee at CVE 2,000 for Category A, CVE 1,000 for Category B, and CVE 500 for Category C. Article 7 sets the evaluation-procedure fee, varying with risk category, at CVE 500,000 to 800,000 for Category A, CVE 201,000 to 499,000 for Category B, and CVE 35,000 to 200,000 for Category C, with a 30% reduction where the project is a modification of one already subject to AIA. Article 15 repeals the prior fee decree, Decreto-Lei n.º 5/2014, de 29 de Janeiro.

The decree was approved by the Council of Ministers on 13 August 2020, promulgated by the President of the Republic on 14 September 2020, and published in the Boletim Oficial of 17 September 2020; its own Article 16 provides that it enters into force ten days after publication.

Source: Full text of law

Lei n.º 26/VIII/2013 de 21 de Janeiro (Código de Benefícios Fiscais), republicada com as alterações da Lei n.º 102/VIII/2016 e do Orçamento do Estado para 2017

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Article 1 states the Code's object as consecrating the principles and general rules applicable to tax benefits, establishing their content, and fixing the rules for their grant and control.

Article 2 applies the Code to the tax benefits it provides and to conventional tax benefits validly approved and ratified, as well as those in separate legislation on personal and corporate income tax, VAT, excise duty, stamp duty, and the single property tax, and to Decreto-Legislativo n.º 11/2010, de 1 de Novembro, on benefits for the construction, rehabilitation, and acquisition of social-interest housing.

Article 3 defines a tax benefit as a tax relief that materially represents an exception to the principle of tax equality, justified by superior reasons of economic or social policy or another extra-fiscal nature, taking the form of an exemption, a reduced rate, a tax credit, or a deduction from the taxable base or the assessed tax.

Article 6 conditions enjoyment of a tax benefit on the taxpayer being under the organised-accounting tax regime, using accounting conforming to Cabo Verde's financial-reporting standards, filing exclusively through the tax administration's electronic system, not being taxed by indirect methods, and having a regularised tax and social-security situation.

The Code names no information-technology, hosting, or data-infrastructure sector specifically, so a data-centre project would qualify for a benefit, if at all, on the Code's general terms rather than a dedicated track; a separate list of activities eligible under a related regime (Article 2 of a related special small-business regime reproduced in the same volume) covers consultancy, scientific, technical, health, and similar services, and likewise names no such sector.

This republished text carries the amendments made by Lei n.º 102/VIII/2016, de 6 de Janeiro, and by the State Budget Law for 2017.

Source: Full text of law